There was a time when I was a prepping newbie and even now, seven plus years later, I have more to do and more to learn. In my heart of hearts, however, I still feel like a beginner and so I empathize with those that are just getting started. They may be moms and dads, seniors like myself, or enlightened millennials. That said, these days I feel fortunate that I have come so far with my prepping activities. Moving beyond obsession, the prepping way of life is now a part of my core. It is “what I do” as well as being a hobby and a passion.
11/4/18 Grid protectionEnable IntenseDebate Comments: Enable IntenseDebate CommentsIt’s not often geology and national security wind up in the same sentence. Most people don’t think about electrical power in connection to either the ground under their feet or solar flares overhead, but Dr. Adam Schultz of Oregon State University, and EarthScopeMagnetotelluric Program Lead Scientist, says that connection presents a clear and present risk that power utilities need to consider. read mor […]

Now that you’ve sorted out a proper food store you can start stocking it. When it comes to storage life and bulk, dry goods are supreme. You can store a few weeks’ worth of canned or packet foods, but with dry goods you can easily be self-sufficient for months or even years. Start your food reserve with 20 pounds of rice (white lasts longer in storage) and 20 pounds of dried beans. Between them those two will give you a solid reserve of carbohydrates and protein, and you can use them as a base for a whole range of recipes supplemented with seasonings, canned or dried ingredients, and food you’ve harvested from nature.

Apparent sub missle launch, unscheduled, in Pacific Northwest near US base -- disavowed by media naturally. Purpose unknown. Venezuela switching to crypto currency? Fed interest rate hike supposed to take place today -- we said this might be a big week and it's panning out. California breakup now will be on November ballot. Many moving pieces in play. Stay alert.

The next thing that you should be aware of is how to use the food that you have prepped and stored. Get familiar with stored-food preparation and the best way to do this is to use it. Get a couple of food-storage cookbooks, or create your own with a little online research. This way you and your family can become familiar with how to use and eat these types of foods.
Know your priorities. There is more to being a prepper than just gathering up non-perishable foodstuffs. There is a lot of thought and process involved when it comes to making sure you and your family is ready in case of an emergency. Here is a list of the things you should prioritize and prepare first, so that you have a good foundation to start with.

And while most of them will tell you they got into survivalism out of an interest in self-reliance, that spirit by no means excludes a sense of cooperation. It’s there in the endless churn of blog posts, advice columns, Pinterest boards, Facebook groups, online classes, and digital marketplaces these women use to connect and swap information every day. And it’s here at Wild Abundance, in the open-air living room, where a woman with short hair and tattoos balances two tall boards of wood on the ground as another starts screwing in the shelves that will connect them into a bookcase.

One major upside of freeze-dried food is its convenience. Since all its water content has been removed—via a process that involves exposing food to subzero temperatures, while removing the resulting water vapor with a vacuum—it’s easier than canned goods to transport on the fly. To “cook” Wise Company’s six-grain Apple Cinnamon Cereal, you just boil three and a half cups of water, dump in the powdery contents of the bag (minus the oxygen absorber), and cover the pot for 12 to 15 minutes.
Balance is also something to remember when you are prepping your food storage. There is a better chance of survival when you pack a month or two of a wide variety of stuff than if you have a year’s supply of 2 or 3 items. If an emergency happens, then you would have a better chance of surviving if you count on your 2 month supply of a wider range of items than you would on just wheat flour and rice, for example.
Check out the full review of the best emergency water storage containers and tips on how to store water. We recommend that you have the two weeks of water ready, sitting in their containers. Don’t depend on finding and filtering water or filling your bathtub for this two week period. It’s very likely you’ll have access to portable water filters and other methods because of your bug out bags, but think of those as a bonus backup.

L. Coast Chuck, your absolutely right. A Constitutional Republic was the intended form with checks and balances between the three branches of government. But infiltrate all three branches with the same corrupt exclusive club members (we’re not in the club by the way) and goodbye checks and balances. Hello power consolidation. A Government Accounting Office whistleblower in the 90’s stated, “You used to be able to differentiate the difference between corporate policy and governmental policy. Now there’s no difference.” Hello United States of Corporate Fascism.

Some products are no different than a normal box of mac and cheese: you boil water in a pot, mix the packaged product into the pot, turn the heat to a simmer, cook, and serve. Others are as simple as pouring boiling water in the pouch and waiting a few minutes. In some cases, the water doesn’t even need to be hot (although flavor and texture is better if it is).

As with everything in life, don’t take prepping to the excess. Hoarding is not the same as prepping and the accumulation of useless or marginally useful items can take up every spare corner of your home or apartment. Although it is wise to keep extra on hand for barter purposes. be realistic about your ability to prep for the long term while maintaining a clutter free home enviroment.
We are prepared to shelter in place. In our area, one road east bottlenecks about 1 mile from my house, and a road north is 2 lanes out of town for miles before it hits a 4 lane highway or wider. Unless we got several hours advance warning and assuming nobody else did, there would be no way to evacuate – at least not safely. We’ve always planned to shelter in place.

It would be tight in my climate but there are days we could be ok on a gal./per for both cooking and basic hygeine, and days we would be quite stinky…when there is no water. That is the way, you allow something less important to slide a day or part of a day…. For the summer temps of 90 and humidity of 65-80%, no way. Closer to 2 gallons a day for drinking alone. as far as baths…. There is what is called a “pan bath” or “rag bath” One takes a cloth wets it with amount of water to totally wet coth adds soap and washes everything needed…puts a little more water over that rag/ or another and rinses it and ones self wih a second wipe over …Ideal? no ..Where things are not ideal, people learn to make do.

And I have bought various pantry sized cans of sauces to increase flavor and nutrition. Alfredo sauce, tomato sauce, mild hot sauce, and Italian seasoning mix come to mind immediately. Since those cans are so well sealed, I don’t bother putting them in the buckets. I also have some #10 cans of cheese sauce powder (think boxed Mac and cheese) since I couldn’t find it in a pantry can, but I store lots of ziplock freezer bags (both quart and gallon sizes) and can use my silica packs to keep it fresher – hopefully long enough to use it up. Cheese sauce over pasta, rice or broccoli will be a nice change of taste when things get boring.
Is this a complete list of everything you will need to be fully prepared food-wise? Heck no. Are the quantities adequate to feed a family for a month, three months or longer? Perhaps a month but not much longer. Truthfully, for long term storage you need more food and more variety (read about the top survival food brands here) as well as some packaging methods (Mylar bags or buckets plus oxygen absorbers) to insure that your will food stay viable and pest free for years to come.
In one instance, a very savvy young man advised his fellow apartment dwellers to take shelter in an underground tunnel that connected their apartment to the outdoors. Clearly, this young man had taken notice of this tunnel and thought about how and when it could come in handy. WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) expert, (Ret.) Army Chemical Expert, Major David L. Jones, insists that even a nuclear event is survivable if you have planned, prepped, and know what to do.
Pasta Primavera … wow! Huge hit. Generous amount of vegetables and a creamy Parmesan sauce. Unlike its competitors, the pasta in this dish isn’t mushy, but has a great, chewy texture in a surprisingly delicious sauce. All testers would eat this as a regular meal, and thought it would be good to just keep on hand as a pantry staple. “The kind of food that makes you hope the power goes out!”
This one in particular can get unruly fast, as there’s always plenty you’ll want to do with regards to prepping no matter how much you’ve already got done and under your belt. If you’ve already started one of these, it’s been set up for a while, and happens to be a complete mess, take a look at the article I spoke about before, on re-organizing your prepper to-do list. It will help you sort your list out in an order that makes sense.
Obviously, solar panels by themselves are quite useful things to have, and since both Broadwing and Ned in the comments suggested that Goal Zero is quite overpriced, I’d be remiss to leave out mentioning another, more price-sensitive option. Ned recommended Aukey as a brand that makes solar power equivalents to Goal Zero gear for far cheaper. In his words, Aukey “make the exact same thing for a fraction of the cost.”
I usually go into lists like this thinking “this person is going to prove how little they know”. But, you just proved how much you know. This list is spot-on, especially the parts about preparing both for and against human nature. IE: in a perfect “bad” situation you want to be that person that is prepared, and can help others learn how to survive by teaching them to hunt, farm, build shelter. But, in a realistic survival situation you need to protect yourself to ensure you’re not just prepping for the big dude down the street with a gun to come over and take advantage of you.
According to developer Robert Vicino of Vivos “We are repurposing the bunkers into the largest survival community on Earth. With one stroke, Vivos xPoint will accommodate as many as 5,000 people to ride out whatever natural or manmade events may come our way. With each bunker providing shelter for up to 20 people, Vivos xPoint makes a life-assurance shelter solution affordable to virtually every family and group. We have already received hundreds of requests from people wanting to claim their own bunker. The project is now underway, and soon each bunker will be under construction to suit the fit and finish that each family/group requires. We are even receiving requests to store precious metals and collections from elite buyers, now moving their treasures out of Europe, in anticipation of WW3 across the EU. “xPoint” was coined as the: Point in time that only the prepared will survive.”

The increased inflation rate in the 1960s, the US monetary devaluation, the continued concern over a possible nuclear exchange between the US and the Soviet Union, and perceived increasing vulnerability of urban centers to supply shortages and other systems failures caused a number of primarily conservative and libertarian thinkers to promote individual preparations. Harry Browne began offering seminars on how to survive a monetary collapse in 1967, with Don Stephens (an architect) providing input on how to build and equip a remote survival retreat. He gave a copy of his original Retreater's Bibliography to each seminar participant.[citation needed]

Any bulk meat I have set aside is canned. If I find a good deal on chicken or even hamburger I can it.I don’t have to worry about a power outage and the loss of a very expensive food item. I know canning isn’t for everyone but the convience of going to the pantry and grabbing a jar of chicken for a salad already cubed and fully cooked has made it all worthwhile. A couple weeks ago I found several packs of italian sausage at the store marked down because it had one day to expiration. I bought what they had, several green peppers, a couple onions. I now have a meal in a jar. All cooked ready to go. throw em in a pan to brown them and warm it all up. Sandwich ready
“I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department, or risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything. My budget was already substantial, but I ended up buying new computers for the Computer Learning Center, half of which, one month later, were carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America. (More and more of our tax dollars at work!)”
I found the buckets at Wal Mart on an end cap. They are near the hardware and paint sections. You may also check the online Wal Mart. I am not sure if they have them there, but I was told that they will order things and have it sent to the store for pick up. Worth checking out. I have been buying a couple of buckets every few weeks… and my store of buckets is increasing.
When I was 17, Nasa announced the discovery of a far-off planet. News reports hinted at the prospect of the Voyager being deployed, but I never got to hear what the probe actually found. The excitement eventually dwindled and I got on with my life, but the discovery sparked an ongoing interest in space and exploration and, later, in the environment and geopolitics. About 18 months ago those interests led me to prepping.

Furthermore, steel shelters, which are typically 3/16- 1/4 of an inch thick, need to be buried DEEP, in order to provide the proper comparative level of protection against radiation. They are typically installed with 8-10 feet of earth covering the top and this presents a considerable number of challenges with regard to the costs for excavating, the need to hire a crane and other issues.

Variety is the spice of life, so make sure when you are prepping; you get a wide-range of things. Getting only wheat flour might get boring after a while and could be dangerous if someone is allergic to it. So it is a good idea to have a variety of grains to use, as well as a grinder that you can turn dried food into flour-like substances to aid in supplementing nutrition.
Water should be able to be stored indefinitely provided it is not contaminated in any way. The problem with storing water in a car is the heat or cold. In the summer time, your water could bake. In really hot environments, if your water is stored in plastic, chemicals in the plastic can leech into your water. There could be some debate about what is the greater harm, chemicals or death by dehydration, but it is something to consider. In the same way, water in the winter can freeze, but as long as it isn’t getting contaminated from any other… Read more »
Yup, you’re right about the dehydrated food having around half the daily recommended calorie count for adults – but I still feel they’re valuable if you can afford it. A food stockpile that big will a least help you get by for the year, regardless of whether you’ll be thriving. And it’s easier (in my opinion) to supplement a stockpile than to depend on growing, hunting, trapping, or fishing everything yourself, especially if you’re not used to doing it.

I like to store honey and sugar not because these are great survival foods, but because they have so many other uses that most people are not aware of. These two items will store for many years and are bound to outlast you. Besides working as sweeteners for your food, they can also be used as an antiseptics or food preservatives. You can even preserve meat using honey and I recommend reading the following articles as it will teach you how you can benefit the most by stockpiling these foods:

If you are in a tight spot and cannot cook or prepare anything, it is a very good idea to have ready to go meals and freeze dried foods on hand. Things like MREs (meals ready to eat), trail mix, beef jerky, candy and food that make you happy (good for your psychological health) can come in handy in a tight spot. Check out our guide on how to prepare DIY MREs to prepare you for any emergencies.
While media coverage has often focused on a certain gun-toting, masculine segment of the subculture, both women described being drawn to prepping as a form of female self-empowerment. As Bedford sees it, finding yourself unprepared in the midst of a crisis can be a “terrible feeling of weakness” for a mother. “It makes sense to be empowered and trained and have the right supplies—and in this case, to have extra food on hand—because as a mom in particular, your family just relies on you,” she said.